Four Tiles from Hell
by jesustenpai
Summary: As the finals of the Interhigh are about to start, a terrible power awakens. Now Saki and her friends have to face their strongest opponents yet ... and to build on their love and friendship to defeat them!
1. Chapter 1

**Yakuhai (1)**

Red eyes, erupting with shadows, filling the room with void. Screams. Silence. The television monitor exploding in slow motion. Glass shards flying through the room like bullets, piercing Saki's skin. Blood blurs her vision. Her eyes now red like her sister's, she watches the shadows flying after the shattered glass, claiming this room for their own. A thump. A moan. Then, darkness.

Saki awakened. Her limbs ached as she got up.  
_ Did I really sleep on the floor? I can't remember ...  
_She stood up.  
_Maybe I fell from the sofa in my sleep ...  
_Her face felt sticky. She rubbed it with her shirt.  
_But then, why would I be sleeping? I was watching the first match of the finals! I can't fall asleep. I'll miss my sister and Yuuki playing!  
_The television was not turned on. Come to think of it, the room was awfully dark and quiet.  
_Where is everyone? They should be with me. And ...  
_Saki looked at her shirt. It was red with blood. Blood! Blood scattered everywhere in the room, the sofa turned over, smoke from the television, the cupboard in shambles –_  
_Saki stood up. Rubbed her temples. Looked down on her shirt. It was nice and clean, just like the room. She went to the door, leaving the room empty.

Saki wandered through the hallways, towards the playing room. Her footsteps echoed along the walls of the tournament hall, like voices filling her head. The walls themselves felt large and imposing, threatening, only illuminated by emergency lighting. Saki was afraid. Her head felt blurry, her memory fuzzy. She went on.

The doors to the playing room were wide open. Mist was coming from the room, slithering on the ground. The door was on it's hinges, as if forced open from inside. Slowly, carefully, and with sweat dripping from her chin Saki approached the room. In it, light. Spotlights on the table. The players slumped in their chairs, lifeless. A shadow caught Saki's eye. It was behind Yuuki, darker than it should be. Saki went towards the stairs leading up to the Mahjong table. The air grew colder as she went up.  
"Yuuki!?" Saki stood in horror at the sight of her friend. With the dark shadow flowing around her like a coat, she seemed no more than a lump of flesh, wrinkles deep in her skin, her mouth dried up.  
"What happened to you?!" Saki rushed to aid her friend, to help her up, to shake her awake – then she thought better of it. She caressed Yuuki's face, gently brushing aside her hair. Even as she tried to talk to her, Saki felt Yuuki's life slipping from her fingers.  
"Sa ... ki ...", Yuuki groaned. Her eyes opened just a bit, enough to reveal they were as dull as her body.  
"Yuuki! Are you alright? What happened to you?" Saki's questions spilled out in concern.  
Yuuki lifted her head towards Saki, groaning from exhaustion of just this simple effort. With the last of her strength, she whispered: "East ... Wind ..." Then, she fell unconscious.  
Saki wanted to cry. She had no idea what was happening, why it was happening, just that her friends were being hurt. Averting her gaze from Yuuki, she turned to see the rest of the table. The other two players seemed fine, albeit blacked out. One seat was empty. Her sister's seat.  
Saki shuddered. Her eyes were drawn to to the void were her sister was supposed to be. A horrible conclusion came to her. Petrified by the thought, she turned her head to face Yuuki again. A red glow answered her unspoken question. Then, two things happened at once.

The shadow that had been looming over Yuuki no fully embraced her. With demonic eyes wide open and teeth bared, Yuuki jumped at Saki. At the same time, Saki instinctively reached for the Mahjong tiles on the table. She threw them at Yuuki. They burned into Yuuki's skin, charring the flesh, adding a sizzling sound under the screams of the girl. She fell on her knees and tried to get rid of the tiles. Saki watched in horror as her friend scratched off pieces of skin in the process. Where Yuuki's face was ripped open, more red light shone through.  
"What ... what are you? What did you do to Yuuki? What did you do to my sister?", Saki asked, tears falling from her eyes.  
Yuuki stood up with an evil grin on her face. "So you are the sister of that strong girl?", answered Yuuki in a deep voice, husky even. "I wonder ... since the same blood runs in your veins, do you posses the same power ... ?"  
"What are you talking about? Please ... please go back to normal, Yuuki! Please ... I just want everyone to come back ..."  
"Don't cry now, you're ruining the mood." Yuuki's voice was more calm now. Her face was only red from blood now, not shining. "You know what? I'm in a good mood right now. I was having a _splendid_ time until now. I shall answer your question ... if you play a game with me!"  
"A game? What game? This ... this is not the time for games, don't you think?"  
"Oh, yes it is! This is a tournament hall, is it not? Now is the perfect time for a game! I will even give you a little bonus at the start!"  
"R-really? What kind of bonus?"  
"I'll tell you who I am! If you win, I'll tell you what happened to your sister! Sounds good, doesn't it?"  
"And if I lose?"  
"Well ... " Yuuki's shadow extended. A dark hand grasped the two girls who were sitting unconscious at the table. Their eyes flew open, they wanted to scream, their faces solidified in an expression of horror. Then, they fell. Heads hitting the table. Then, they sat. Eyes shining red like Yuuki's.  
"If you lose", Yuuki continued, "I shall take these girls for myself!"  
"Just ... who are you?", Saki asked.  
"I am Ton, the demon of the east wind! Have you never wondered why Yuuki is always so strong in the east wind rounds? That's right ... it's me. My power."

"A demon? This – this can't be true!" Saki felt shivers running down her spine. She denied what she heard, of course, but she knew that it was true. Those menacing, red eyes ... the way Yuuki had been acting ... for now Saki had no choice. She had to play. Slowly she made her way around the table towards her seat. The tiles were already standing orderly, even though they had just been flying around the room. Saki had not heard the automatic table shuffle them. Saki gulped.

**Mahjong: Saki vs. The Demon of the East Wind!**

"One word before we start ... ", Yuuki said as she sorted her tiles. "This game will not follow the regular set of rules. We will play until one player goes below zero points ... however many rounds that will take!" Yuuki laughed. "Not that this really matters ... I will finish you in the first four east hands!"  
The tiles were shaking in Saki's hands as she sorted them. _Playing against Yuuki like this ... I have to use my whole strength! But looking into those eyes ... I don't know if I can keep this up._ Saki took a deep breath.

_First east hand. Dora indicator: Man 2. East Seat: Yuuki. South Seat: Kuro. West Seat: Saki. North Seat: Suzu. Dealer: Yuuki. Saki's hand: Man 1,2,4,7,9; Pin 1,1,2; Sou 5; West, Chun, Chun, Chun._

_This is a good hand, but if this Yuuki is as good as the Yuuki I know, I won't have enough time to complete it. I have to call aggressively._ Saki's hands were slippery from sweat as she sorted her tiles. She gave hasty glances across the table, averted her eyes when they met Yuuki's.  
"What are you waiting for? It's your turn! Draw your tile!"  
Saki winced. Didn't she just get her tiles? How were the other girls so fast? She looked at her opponents' discards.  
_Yuuki discarded a Chun? I can't believe I missed a chance for a Kan ... I have to get it together. I can't lose this game!  
_Saki drew her tile. _Man 3. If the draws keep coming, I can get a Yakuhai Chanta Dora 1. That's at least 4000 points ... but it will take three more turns. I have to call if I get the chance.  
_She took the East tile, moved it to the discard pile. Her grip tightened. Cramped. She felt her mistake, felt it in the tiles. Her mind went black as Yuuki's presence overwhelmed her. Saki broke in a sweat. She opened her mouth, screamed, screamed ... No word came out. Her voice, suppressed. The tiles, empty. She could not feel them, could not see within them. They rejected her, rejected her for Yuuki. Her mind was going blank.  
Saki discarded her tile.  
"Pon!" Yuuki's voice was full of victory. A smirk on her face, she took the tile.  
_What was this feeling just now ... ? Was this Yuuki's doing? It threw me completely off ... My body is still shaking ...  
_"Not feeling so well, are we? Don't worry, I will put you out of your misery soon enough!"  
Yuuki slammed her discarded tile on the table.  
"Pon!" Suzu claimed the tile the instant it hit the table.  
_So fast! Are they working together? Is Yuuki controlling her play ... ? That would be quite bad for me ... Not to mention, I don't even get to draw now! This is bad ...  
_Suzu discarded as fast as she called.  
"Now you will see that this really isn't your game anymore." Yuuki's grin widened as she reached to draw her tile. Without looking, she put it next to her called West tiles.  
"Kan.", she said, looking Saki into the eyes. Her eyes fixed on her opponent she took her replacement tile.  
"Rinshan Kaihou!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Yahukai (2)**

_First east hand, third dealer repeat. Dora indicator: Sou 8. Yuuki: 63.500 points. Kuro: 22.000 points. Saki: 12.500 points. Suzu: 22.000 points. Dealer: Yuuki. Saki's hand: Man 3,3,4; Pin 5,5,8,8; Sou 4,5,5,8; North, Hatsu._

Saki's body was trembling. With glassy eyes she sorted her tiles, her hands moving automatically. Was this real? Was this really happening? Saki was long past pinching herselft to see if she was dreaming, and yet she doubted herself. When she played Mahjong, she could feel the flow of the tiles, could see where her hand was leading her, knew how to manipulate the game in her favour. But in this game she felt as if she wasn't even participating.  
Across the table Yuuki smiled like she aready won. Saki knew this was correct.  
_If I continue like this, I will definitely lose. I have to get a grip. I'm not just playing for myself here. I'm playing for Yuuki!  
_Saki glanced across the table. Her friend sat leaned back in her chair, hands on the chairback.  
_Yes ... this is who I am fighting for! And not only Yuuki. If she has become like this, then my other friends are in danger too! And Nodoka ... she never believed in any supernatural powers ... I wonder if she is ok in a place like this.  
_Saki took a deep breath.  
_Now ... let's see what we got. With a hand like this, I could go for Chiitoitsu, but if I'm playing against Yuuki in the east round it will be too slow. And there are only two more 8 Sou left ... I might be only two tiles from tenpai, but I can't call anything if I go for it. I have to call aggressively if I want to complete my hand in time. I wonder if I can also throw Yuuki off-balance if I change the drawing order ...  
_A chance. Kuro discarded 5 Man. Saki called immediately.  
"Now what will this be, I wonder?", said Yuuki. "Are you hoping to finish your hand before mine? Maybe I should tell you that this game is not in your control. You, a mere human, could have no chance against a demon like me! Not to mention that the other two players at the table are my pawns. I control the whole flow of this game!" Yuuki laughed a devilish laugh. "Your struggle is pointless. You should just give up already."  
"No!" With a rush of emotion Saki cried out to her friend. "I can't give up this fight! I know that you are here somewhere, Yuuki, and I won't let you down!"  
"Oh please! Your friend is long gone. I am all that remains. All that _should_ remain! All her life she channeled my power, used me for her Mahjong, but now the tables have turned! Her spirit resides in me, and I am finally free! Now discard your tile!"  
Yuuki had stood up, towering over Saki, an evil spirit looming over their game. Saki was cowering in her chair, feared to look up, up into the cold eyes she didn't recognise. She reached for her tiles, slowly, carefully, winced when she touched them as if expecting another outleach. None came. She took the 8 Sou. As she put it into her discard pile, Saki let out the air she had been holding. Her shoulders lowered, and her grip untightened.  
_Yes ... even if this demon says that Yuuki is gone, I don't believe it. I can't believe it!_

The next round of discards yielded no tiles for Saki.  
_This is bad ... Yuuki is probably already in tenpai, and I can't advance my hand as fast as I want to ... I need to draw something now or I will lose!  
_Saki drew a 3 Sou. _This sets me up for a San Shoku Doujun. I still need two Pin tiles for it though, so it's unlikely to happen. But I can't complain about that now ... I have other problems. Nobody else has discarded any honour tiles yet. For now I can get rid of the second 3 Man, but if I want to keep advancing my hand I'll have to discard my honours ... but now that I think about it, only Yuuki has been winning hands or calling tiles until now. If Kuro and Suzu really are only pawns I can probably get away with playing dangerously.  
_She smiled when Suzu discarded a 5 Pin. _I can change the drawing order!  
_"Pon!"  
_I can feel the flow of the game changing! This isn't unwinnable anymore! _Yuuki didn't smile anymore. Her gaze was fixed on Saki's discard pile, anxiously awaiting her tile. Saki discarded her North tile.  
Yuuki instantly snatched it up. "Now what about this?", she said. "You really think you had me worried when you tried your little trick? Don't make me laugh! See? I'm already back on track!"  
_I feared this would happen ... but my feel of the flow has come back. I'm still in this.  
_"If you are oh-so-confident now ... then let me see how you deal with my Riichi!"  
Yuuki slammed her tile on the table. It left scratches on the plastic as she turned it sideways, pulsing with anger like Yuuki's veins.  
"Y-you can't declare Riichi on an open hand! That's against the rules!" said Saki, but Yuuki only smiled.  
"I'd like to see you stop me. This is my playing field, and I make the rules!"  
"I – I –" Saki had no response. Frustrated, she looked to see what Yuuki discarded.  
_Th-that tile! I can't believe it!  
_"P-pon!" Yuuki's face turned pale at the sound of Saki's voice. She watched her opponent take the tile as if she were watching a ghost.  
_With this she will lose her Ippatsu! The tiles are on my side! And what's more, I'm in Tenpai now!  
_Saki held her breath when Yuuki drew her tile. The latter looked at it for a few seconds, her face distorted in disgust. With clenched teeth, she put it into her discard pile.  
Saki still held her breath. Her heart beat fast, and sweat dripped from her chin. Painfully slow she turned the tile up.  
"Tsumo." Saki's voice was shaky. "Tanyao. 300/500."

_Third east hand, fourth dealer repeat. Dora indicator: Pin 4. Yuuki: 16.800 points. Kuro: 15.600 points. Saki: 72.000 points. Suzu: 15.600 points. Dealer: Saki. Saki's hand: Man 1,1,1,9,9; Pin 9,9; Sou 1,1,9; South, Hatsu, Haku._

Yuuki was shivering. Her gaze was flickering over the table, anxiously, looking for salvation were none was. Since Yuuki's dealership had ended, Saki had won every hand. Yuuki's points were dwindling as was her spirit. Just how could that girl keep on winning? How, when they were battling here, in Yuuki's own realm? Yuuki's fingers were drumming on the table, almost cramping, and her face was glistening. She was losing, and demons are sore losers.  
_With this hand I can get Chinrouto! If Yuuki get's hit by a direct Yakuman, she'll go bust! I have to make this one count!  
_Saki was playing with confidence now. She didn't know what had happened in the first few hands, but now she was back in her element. More, she was feeling better than she ever had playing Mahjong. The tiles felt like they were flowing through her hands as she drew them, and the waves she made in winning were beating ever higher. Now, they were crashing down on Yuuki like a tsunami.  
"Ron! Dealer Yakuman, 48.000!"  
All colour left Yuuki's face, much like her points. Her eyes were glassy, her hands shaking in disbelief.  
"No ... this cannot be ... I can't accept this ... I _won't_ accept this!" With a scream Yuuki jumped out of her chair. Her shadow extended, slithered over the table, grasped Suzu and Kuro by the neck.  
"Don't forget who you're playing against! I'm the Demon of the East Wind! This is my realm, and I make the rules!", Yuuki screamed, screeched, a shrill sound. The shadow was pulsing now. It lifted the two girls in the air, wrapped itself around them.  
"Wh-what is going on here?!" Saki had to watch horrified as not Yuuki's points, but Suzu and Kuro's points went down, while the girls were lifted high. As their points reached zero, the shadow let go of them, let them crash on the ground. They didn't get up.  
"You – what have you done to them!?" The girl's voice was shaky.  
"Oh don't throw a fuss now. I _did_ tell you that it's game over once you reach zero points. It's their own fault for being weaker than me. Still ... I can't believe I had to go to such lengths against a mere human. To get me to zero points ... but it is still the east round! I will finish you no matter what!"

_Third east hand, fifth dealer repeat. Dora indicator: North. Yuuki: Zero points. Kuro: defeated. Saki: 120.000 points. Suzu: defeated. Dealer: Saki. Saki's hand: Man 2,2,2,4,5; Pin 2,3,6; Sou 3,3,3; East, Chun._

_ How am I supposed to defeat her? No matter what I do, she won't go below zero! It's like she is invincible! Even though my hand is good, I can't beat her with just normal hands. Just what am I supposed to do?  
_Saki rubbed her temples. Playing Mahjong, that was one thing. She could do it almost automatically, but now that she needed to concentrate on this problem, making discard decisions became increasingly hard.  
_Should I discard my wind tile? It is a dora, but so far Yuuki has always had a lot of East tiles in her hands ... I guess it can't hurt to keep it for now. Giving her the chance to call it would give her three dora. The thought alone is scary.  
_Yuuki had stopped making snarky remarks on Saki's playing style. She was not nervous anymore like she was just minutes before; now she concentrated completely on the game.  
_It's just the two of us playing now, so the game goes a lot faster ... but my hand just doesn't seem to advance ... it's as if the tiles can tell that I don't know how to win.  
_Saki drew her tile for the turn. _A second East! That put's me into tenpai. But I need a third East tile to win since I don't have any other yaku ... it would also be kind of funny to defeat the Demon of the East Wind with it's own tile ...  
_Saki paused. _Wait ... with it's own tile ... that's it! That's gotta be it! I need to win with the East tiles! But Yuuki probably has at least one of them herself, and just waiting until I draw it is risky. I don't know if I'll get as good a chance for this again! I have to somehow make her discard it!  
_Saki picked up a tile to discard, but instead she let it flick through her fingers.  
"You know Yuuki ... I've been wondering ... since you're the Demon of the East Wind, do you always have to win with the East tiles?"  
"What do you mean? I can win however I want to! I'm not limited to any tiles!"  
"Really? Because every hand you've won had at least three East tiles in it. Are you sure that's not your weakness? It makes your hand pretty easy to read if you always have the same three tiles in it, you know?"  
"What is this? Are you trying to insult me? A weakness? Pah! You make me laugh! I shall show you this 'weakness' you're talking about!"  
"Oh? Now I'm interested. Bring it on then!" Saki discarded her tile.  
"You will regret this!" Yuuki's eyes were glaring red. "Here! See this 'weakness' of mine!" She slammed her tile on the table. An East tile.  
_Now I've got you!  
_"Ron! Yakuhai, 1000 points!" Saki smiled a victor's smile.

The tiles began to glow as the hit the table. Beams of light shot out of them, pierced Yuuki through the chest, expanded and slowly lit up her whole body. The girl let out a scream. Her whole body was on fire now, a fire so bright Saki had to avert her eyes. The scream went on and on, turned into an ungodly screaching, high and low at the same time. Then, it ended. When Saki looked up, her friend was lying motionless on the floor. The tiles on the table were glowing faintly.

**The Demon of the East Wind: Defeated!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Churen Poto**

Saki opened her eyes. Above her were neither cameras nor spotlights, only the ceiling. Slowly, she stood up. Her head felt dizzy, her view was blurry, her hands shaking. It was cold. She looked around while waiting for her consciousness to gather itself. The floor was littered with glass shards. The television in pieces. Her friends, her teammates, lying on the floor, motionless, unconscious, their skin pierced by the glass. Saki looked at her arm. A shard was sticking out of it. Saki pulled it out. A small trickle of blood came from the wound, dripped on the floor, drip, drip, a lone sound in the silence. Then, everything came back to Saki.  
"Yuuki! I need to look for Yuuki!" Saki ran for the door. Her footsteps echoed through the hallway, her heartbeat echoed in her ears. She looked straight ahead, tears welling in her eyes, not thinking, only running, running.  
Saki was out of breath when she reached the playing room. She stood there for a moment, leaning on the doors, breathing. Finally, she entered the room.  
This is what she saw: The Mahjong table was in pieces. Multiple spotlights had fallen down from the ceiling, some hitting the table. Only half the table was even standing; big chunks of it were lying underneath bent metal, glass shards scattered around them. One spotlight had pierced the table and was now sticking out of it like a survivor on a battlefield. Mahjong tiles were leaking out of the table like the blood leaking out of Yuuki.  
"Yuuki!" Saki hurried to her friends side, who was lying beside the table. Yuuki's hands were warm as Saki touched them. Saki shook Yuuki's body softly first, then more violently, but no reply came. She lifted Yuuki's body, called out to her, embraced her. Tears started running down Saki's face. She wept in silence, her friends body in her arms. Yuuki was dead.

A hand on Saki's shoulder. Saki tried to brush it off, but instead the hand took hold of her own and pulled her up.  
"I am very sorry. So very sorry." Saki looked up. Behind her stood Pro Fujita. Saki turned, grapped Fujita's shirt, buried her face in it.  
"Please... make this go away... I don't want to see this anymore!" Saki cried. Cried for her dead friend, cried for the horror of a match she had played, cried for herself. How could any of this happen? This couldn't be real. Friends can't just die. She wouldn't accept it, couldn't accept it.  
Fujita gently turned Saki's face to look at her.  
"I know this must be hard for you. And yet, I can't give you any encouragement... just more sorrow." The pro's hands were cold. Saki wanated to say something, wanted to scream, to cry, but the words stuck in her throat. Her tears dried up under Fujita's gaze.  
"This might seem very sudden to you, but I will have to explain some things. You might remember... when I was commentating your matches in the preleminaries, I sometimes talked about players who are 'loved by the tiles' or called them 'demons'. I wasn't joking. What you just experienced was undoubtedly the Demon World, or rather, the Shadow Realm. I don't know what happened to you, but it seems you have already encountered a demon yourself."  
"So... you're saying... that Yuuki really was a demon?"  
"Not quite. Rather, she was possessed by a demon. When she got transported into the Shadow Realm, it must have awakened inside her."  
"But... why just then? Yuuki never seemed like she could have a demon inside her... Why did this happen just now?"  
"Demons are powerless outside of their own world. I don't know how or why this happens, but some people have demons bound to them... they can access a part of their powers, which will show itself in their Mahjong abilities... Abilities such as your own, actually. Which leads to another interesting question... why didn't _your_ demon awaken, Saki?"  
"I – I don't know. Why are you asking me such hard questions?"  
"True. There wasn't much point in this. More important is this question: Where is your sister?"  
Saki looked over to the table where her sisters seat in the match had been. The chair was there, battered, but no Teru. While the other girls were lying in their blood, there was only an empty spot where Saki's sister should be.  
Saki opened her mouth, but she didn't say anything. She closed it again. The reason she went to this tournament, the reason she had fought so hard – gone?  
"There is only one explanation for this: Teru must be in the Shadow Realm!" Fujita continued without concern for the girl in her arms. There was strength in her words, but a cold strength, the strength of determination. She knew what needed to be done, and she knew it wasn't pretty.  
"Now, Saki, look at me." The pro turned Saki's head when the girl didn't respond. There was no resistance. "Your sister is in the Shadow Realm, and not just her spirit like you experienced it, but her physical body! To return her, you have to do the same! You have to enter the Shadow Realm again!"  
"I... I can bring my sister back?" Saki's voice was feeble, quiet, shaky, but in it dwelled a glimmer of hope. "I... can fix this?"  
"Yes. And not just your sisters. It looks like everybody in the building has suffered the same fate. You must bring them back if you can!"  
Fujita let go of Saki. Carefully, as if she feared the girl would fall if left unsupported, she took a step back.  
"The way into the Shadow Realm is not usually accessible, but the barrier between the worlds has been weakened. I don't know what you will experience once you pass through the gate; nor can I accompany you, since I have a natural immunity to demons. You will have to trust in yourself and your abilites." Pro Fujita was collecting Mahjong tiles as she spoke. Once she had fourteen, she arranged thirteen of them in a circle on the ground. The last one she gave to Saki.  
"Th-these tiles ... !" Saki's eyes widened as she saw the tiles glow.  
"Yes! These are the tiles for a Churen Poto, the Nine Gates of Heaven! The tile in your hand completes it! Now, step forward, and fulfill your destiny!"

Saki stepped through the gate. A great light blinded her, and a great heat burned her. She screamed, but her scream only howled through her own head, never leaving her body. The light changed. Where before it was only white, a mass of colours now exploded before Saki's eyes. They swirled, formed ever new shapes, dancing more and more apart as if trying to escape. Finally, they collapsed into themself and left only darkness behind.

A voice spoke in the darkness.  
"Who goes there?" The voice was low. It rumbled over Saki's body, vibrated in her ears.  
"W-who are you? Where are we?" Saki reached out, tried to find whoever was speaking, but her hands grapsed only the darkness. It was flowing through her fingers like fine silk, smooth and cold to the touch, a tangible black.  
"If you seek entrance to the Shadow Realm, you must answer me, for I am the Gate!" Saki could see the darkness moving now. Some parts became lighter, some darker even. All parts seemed to move away from Saki. She couldn't say how long it took, but when she saw what stood before her, she gulped. It was a giant face, its mouth shaped like a gate that took up most of the space. The rest of it was covered in ornaments. Its eyes were closed. When it spoke again, the mouth didn't move, and the voice didn't come from its direction either. Saki felt as if the voice came from within the darkness around her itself.  
"I am the Gate that leads to the Shadow Realm! All who pass by me need answer my questions! Now speak: What is your name?"  
"I-it's Saki."  
"Saki! You come before me and seek entrance, so I challenge you: Look into yourself, make a choice, and do it wisely, and you shall find what you seek!" With these words the darkness began to shift again. Right before Saki it started to solidify into Mahjong tiles, neatly ordered and laid face down before her.  
_So... I have to choose a tile? But how is that going to determine whether I pass? Maybe I should just take one...? _Saki started to reach for a tile. As she was about to touch it, she pulled back.  
_This tile... when my hand got near it, I started to feel nauseous all of a sudden... is this the test? To find a tile that won't have any effect on me?_ Saki moved her hand over the tiles.  
_I can clearly feel it. These tiles... they are rejecting me! My heart can see that they are not the right one! This is an easy test! I just have to check every tile, and eventually I will find the one!_ But as Saki's hand hovered over the tiles, sweat drops started falling from it.  
_No... this can't be... all of these tiles are rejecting me. There is no right choice! _Her temples started to hurt. She felt very alone in the darkness.  
_I can't do it... I can't make a choice... agh, I'm so useless! I will fail at the first obstacle without even the chance to help my friends! I wish Hisa were here... she could always help me out before...  
_A light in the darkness. Saki's hand moved on it's own.  
_This one tile... it suddenly seems a lot warmer then before... it feels like it's calling to me! Why did it change? _As her hand reached for the tile, images of her friends flashed through Saki's mind. Warm, happy memories accompanied them, and Saki felt a great weight lifted off of her.  
_That's right ... I am doing this for my friends! They're calling for me! I can't let them down! _With confidence, Saki took the tile and slammed it face up. It was a Haku.

Then, nothing happened. Saki looked anxiously around her. The darkness still lingered, the void stayed silent.  
The face moved. Its mouth opened with a grotesque shreaking, and Saki was pulled off her feet when the Gate started to suck her in with the rest of her surroundings. Everything went black again.


	4. Chapter 4

_[you can find a visual representation of the game here: chessgames . c/o/m/ perl/chessgame?gid=1243022]_

* * *

**Matovinsky Gambit (1)**

"This silence is starting to become quite unsettling."  
"I know how what you mean, but there's nothing to be done about that." Nodoka smoothened her hair back. "Let's just move on."  
Hisa was walking beside her, and she had grown restless. There was something wrong, and she felt it, but she didn't know what it was. Ever since she had woken up with only Nodoka as company where there should have been two other girls she was on edge. The two of them had been lying on the ground, not sitting on the sofa watching the match. Trying to turn the TV on had been futile, and their phones had no connection, so they resorted to searching for someone to help them. Except that there was nobody to find. All the rooms they tried were empty, and they met no one in the hallways.  
"Nodoka, I know you don't believe in this kind of stuff, but don't you think that this is a bit ... weird? Where is everyone?"  
"I am sure we can find an explanation for this. If you recall, we were unconscious for a while, so maybe something happened without us noticing."  
"But wouldn't Mako and Saki tell us? I don't think they'd just leave us ... hey, that's strange, shouldn't we be back in the main hallway by now?" They stopped. "I could've sworn we were going back in the direction we had come ... well, I guess we aren't that familiar with the place. Let's turn back and figure out where we got lost."  
"Wait, captain. Doesn't this hallway strike you as odd? It doesn't have any doors except for the one at the far end. Why would they have such a place ... ?"  
"Let's not concern ourself with that. The others are surely waiting for us!" Hisa turned around to walk back where she came from, but instead her legs froze. Cold sweat dripped from her chin.  
"N-nodoka, turn around. You need to see this."  
Nodoka turned around. She was facing a wall.  
_Impossible! Th-this is impossible! There was a corner just four meters from here, and suddenly there's nothing? How could we have some here if there is no hallway? _Nodoka's hands were shaking. She reached out to touch the wall. It was cold, solid. A normal wall. Nodoka's mouth opened in disbelief. She took a step back, considered, then touched the wall again. Slammed her fists against it.  
_I have to stay calm. Calm and collected. Frustration won't lead me anywhere.  
_"Captain."  
"What is it, Nodoka?" Hisa had been standing quietly, thinking.  
"Let's go through that door." Nodoka turned around. And there was the door. Two meters in front of her.  
"Th-this! There is no mistake this time!" Nodoka pointed with a shaking finger at the door. "This door was at the end of a hallway, and now the hallway is gone!"  
"So it really was this room playing tricks on us and not our minds." The captain looked almost happy about the recent developments. "This is starting to get exciting, don't you think?" She clapped and rubbed her hands together like a gourmet before a fine french dinner. As she was just about to open the door, she turned around again. Her teammate was still standing in shock, still pointing. Hisa sighed and smiled a little smile. She took Nodoka's hand and lowered it gently. Nodoka showed no resistance.

"Come on now, wasn't it you who was so sure of what to do just a moment ago? I know you don't like this kind of stuff, but we will find an explanation for it later. For now, see it as an adventure! I'm sure exciting things are waiting behind this door."  
Nodoka looked away. "... if you say so, captain", she said reluctantly. Hisa reached for Nodoka's shoulder, but thought better of it. Instead, she reached for the door. She took a deep breath, then opened it.  
"Welcome, welcome, please, do take a seat ..."  
Nodoka and Hisa were greeted by an empty room. Nodoka blinked, rubbed her eyes, looked again.  
"Maybe we should worry about our ears rather than our eyes", said Hisa.  
"Oh, there I go, confusing my guest again ... silly me", the voice said. Surrounded by sparkle, a figure appeared before the girls, though it was a mere silhouette. The sparkling intensified, became brighter, blindingly bright. Out of it stepped the silhouette, now a full-fledged person. It was a woman, around her thirties, with long hair and a formal attire. "This should be better ... now, where were we? Oh, yes, I was just welcoming you two lovely girls into my little world. Let me introduce myself: I am Alea, but formally I am known as the demon of the 8 man tile. So, who might you two be?"  
Silence filled the room. Nodoka and Hisa were looking at the woman before them, expressionless. The captain went towards the woman with big, determined steps, looked at her face, looked closer, touched it. The demon snapped Hisa's hand out of the air.  
"I can assure you, I am as real as you are. Just as real as this room, and the sweat on your skin." She let go of Hisa's hand and swept past her. A predatory smile on her face she approached Nodoka, who still hadn't moved. Alea's face was close to Nodoka's, uncomfortably close, and she looked the girl deep in the eyes. With one hand she started to caress Nodoka's face, but she got no response. Nodoka was still as a stone.  
The woman turned abruptly.  
"You're quite the stubborn one, aren't you", she said as she distanced herself again.  
"You don't exist. There is no reason for me to do anything about you." The woman stopped dead.  
"Hooo? Don't exist, you say? Now how might I change that opinion ..." She snapped her fingers. With the same sparkle as before, a table appeared in the room. On it was a chess board, complete with figures. Two chairs stood beside the table.  
"This is how I will prove that I exist: We will play chess. I will win. When I win, I will take your soul. Easy enough, don't you think?" She turned to face Nodoka, smiling her sinister smile.  
"Nodoka, I have a bad feeling about this. Let's not rush things, ok?" Hisa was trying to watch both her teammate and the demon at the same time. Her eyes shifted from one to the other, weary.  
Nodoka took a step forward.  
"There is nothing to fear. This is just a halluzination. It has to be. What it there to lose if I only play against a figment of my imagination? More, how could I ever lose, if I play against myself?" With confidence she walked to the table and took a seat. "I will be playing first if you don't mind."  
Alea's smile couldn't have gotten bigger.  
"As you wish."

**Chess: Nodoka vs. Alea, the Demon of the 8 Man!**

Chess: A game of pure strategy. In this fierce battle of wits, minds clash, sacrifices are made, and great strategists are born. With the rules tracing back to the age of kings, when nobles prided themselves with their abilities, it is one of the oldest games known to man. Now it is played by Nodoka and Alea, who set the stakes high: The loser will lose their soul!

Nodoka had Mona Lisa's smile on her face as she looked at the chess board. Both hands on the table she seemed completely at ease. Hisa was impressed.  
_She is already in Nodocchi mode, and this isn't even Mahjong! Maybe I was worried over nothing.  
_Nodoka made her first move. Or intended to, but her hand stopped before it touched the pawn. It hovered there, and the girl's forehead wrinkled.  
"It's been a while since I last played this game", said Nodoka. "I do remember correctly that a pawn can move two spaces on it's first turn?"  
"That is indeed correct", said her opponent. Nodoka's face lightened.  
"Good. Pawn to e4."  
"A classic first move. As expected from an online player: A boring, low risk, high value play. Don't you think life is more exciting when you play a bit ... dangerous?" Alea, who had been relaxing in her chair, now uncrossed her legs and leaned forward to move her piece. "Pawn to b6." She leaned back again.  
_What an odd move_, thought Hisa. _Whenever I watched my parents play chess, the game seemes to focus on the center of the board, but this move looks completely random!  
_Nodoka was unphased by her opponent's words. With mechanical precision she moved her figure.  
"Pawn to d4."  
"Bishop to b7."  
"Knight to – " Nodoka paused. Reconsidered. "Bishop to d3."  
_What is this? Is Nodocchi faltering? I haven't ever seen her think about a move after she enters this state! And the way she changed her play – is this woman actually a real threat? Well, for now I can't do anything except watch and hope._

Alea smirked.  
"Let's have a little fight over this, shall we? Pawn to f5", she said.  
"Accepted." Nodoka's hands moved blisteringly fast. "Pawn takes pawn. Your move."  
Alea almost let out a laugh.  
"Such aggression! What unexpected emotion you show. I like it! But isn't your play suffering? You are leaving your back wide open. Bishop takes pawn at g2."  
Nodoka didn't even glance at her opponent's move.  
"Queen to h5. Check."  
Hisa was aghast.  
_Has Nodoka gone insane? She is moving out with her queen way to early! Why would she do something this reckless?  
_Alea frowned.  
"It looks like you aren't taking this game serious enough, little lady. I am disappointed. Beginner's mistakes when your soul is at stake? Oh, but of course you don't believe in this stuff. I will have to teach you the hard way. Pawn to g6." Compared to the big swings Nodoka had made with her queen, this move seemed almost embarrassing, but it was effective nontheless.  
"Pawn takes pawn." Nodoka moved without hesitation.  
_Nodoka is only going on the offensive ... she's completely ignoring what's going on on her side of the table. That bishop is threatening to take her tower anytime. If she messes up only once it's game over.  
_"Oh please", said the demon, "you aren't even making this any fun. I've got you on your back foot at every step and you don't even seem to consider losing any pieces. Do you play Mahjong in the same way? Never lower your hand value even though you discard dangerous tiles, alway go for riichi?" She made a derogatory gesture. "I could win this game with my hands tied behind my back. Knight to f6. That's threatening your queen, by the way."  
_Surely now Nodoka will call back her attack and go on defense. The queen is the strongest piece. Playing without it would be very difficult.  
_"You seem to be underestimating me." Nodoka looked Alea in the eyes. Both their faces were cold, unyielding. "Pawn takes pawn. Check."  
_I can't believe this! How can you be so reckless!  
_Alea was shaking her head.  
"It seems you enjoy digging your own grave." She sounded disappointed. "And here I thought we could have some fun. But now it's over before it really started. Knight takes queen. Your move."  
Nodoka smiled.  
"Me, digging my own grave? No. It was you who was dead from the beginning. Look at the board. Look and see."  
Alea went pale. Her eyes widened, she started sweating.  
"Th-this can't be!"  
"Oh yes it can. Bishop to g6. Checkmate."


	5. Chapter 5

**Matovinsky Gambit (2)**

Alea's fists were swelling with rage. Her face distorted. Gritted teeth. She stood up, slowly, trembling, towering over Nodoka.  
"You!" Her voice was booming, filling the small room. "How dare you! I have never lost in a thousand years, and you just march in here and declare I don't exist?!" Power was radiating from Alea's body. She glowed, a dark glow that seemed to absorb light rather than emit it.  
Hisa ran for the door.  
"Nodoka! We have to get out of here! I don't know what's happening, but I'm pretty sure we're not going to like it!"  
There was no door. But there was a wall, and Hisa ran straight into it.  
_Damn damn damn ... I need to do something, and quick!  
_She turned back around. Her vision went blurry, her body felt heavy, so heavy ...  
Hisa fell on her knees. She couldn't feel her body anymore. Instead, she felt emptiness; a cold silence surrounding her heart.  
_I don't know what's happening but ... I have to ... get to Nodoka ...  
_She gathered her strength, gathered her resolve, and stood up. In front of her were giant chess figures, standing, looming.  
"Wh-what is happening? Nodoka! Where are you? Answer me!"  
"Hisa? Is that you?" Nodoka's voice was close to her. "I feel like something weird happened ... maybe this whole thing is not what I thought it was ..."  
Hisa turned towards the direction her teammates voice came from. She was greeted by more chess figures, white ones instead of the black ones across from her.  
"Nodoka! I can her you, but where are you? All I can see are these chess figures. Somehow they've gotten real big. Are you behind one of them?"  
"I'm not standing behind anything, but I can't see you either."  
In that moment, a realisation hit Hisa.  
_C-could it be ...  
_She looked down her body. Where she expected her clothes to be was only shining white. She tried to move her arms, but there were no arms to move.  
"We have been transformed into chess pieces!"

"What do you mean 'transformed into chess pieces'? There's no way something like that could ever happen!"  
"There's no other explanation! Just look at your body. It looks like you are the king!"  
Nodoka just looked at her body.  
"Y-you are right! I do look like the king!" Nodoka looked up again. "And it looks like you are a knight."  
"Nodoka, can you move? When I try to move I just kind of wiggle around a bit."  
"Move? How do you expect me to move?! I'm a piece of wood!"  
"But we're talking right now, aren't we? Just do something! We can't stay like this forever!"  
But Nodoka stood paralysed.  
_How can I talk so calmly with the captain when things like these are happening? What even _is _really happening right now? This can't be just a mere dream anymore. But when I start thinking about being transformed into a chess piece my brain just stops. This is just too impossible to think about! Aargh, damn it!  
_Nodoka just did something.  
"I moved! I really moved! I just took a step like I normally would, and I really moved one step on the board!"  
"But then why can't I move?"  
"Maybe it's because I am the king and the king can move in any direction just like a person, but you as a knight have to move like your piece would? Argh, I sound like a crazy person saying this ..."  
_This isn't such a bad suggestion actually ... now, the knight always moves two forward, one to the side ... but it can also jump over other pieces ... so should I try jumping?  
_Hisa jumped. Her wooden body moved gracefully through the air, but she could feel neither wind nor an impact when she hit the board.  
"I think I am finally getting used to this body", said Hisa. "But how did we even become chess pieces? And more importantly, how can we get back to our normal bodies?"  
"Captain, I think we have more urgent problems." Nodoka indicated to Hisa to look at the other side of the board.  
"What do you mean? Are you not feeling well? You're wobbling around ... it actually looks quite funny ..."  
Nodoka sighed.  
"Look to the other side of the board. And then run. Quickly."

A wise and handsome man once said: "Restrictions breed creativity." If this is true, Hisa's brain had reached Van Gogh levels of creativity mere seconds after she turned around and realised that not only was there a horde of white chess pieces that were clearly coming for her head closing in on her, that she was trapped in a wooden body which was not fully under her control, but also that even if she managed to escape, Nodoka, who was much less agile than Hisa in her current state, would be left for dead.  
_Surely there must be a weakness to these chess pieces. I just have to find it!_ Hisa quickly glanced over the approaching enemy. _Most of them are pawns. They're moving rather slow ... is that because a pawn can only move one field per turn? Of course! If we are bound to the laws of chess, then every piece on this board has to abide it's own ruleset! That means I only have to get behind them, since pawns can only attack an other piece if it's in front of them!  
_Hisa jumped. However, instead of landing behind the enemy lines, her jump was too short, and she crashed right into one of the pawns.  
_Crap!  
_The white tiles froze. Turned. Hisa was cornered.  
_Even if I can jump over them, there are too many! I won't make it!  
_From among the tiles, Alea's voice came. It was not a singular tile that spoke, nor did they speak as an entity, but Alea seemed to be within them all and switch between them as she liked.  
"I am terribly sorry to have you wind up in all this, I really am. But since your friend went ahead and ... did this ... thing, I have to eliminate the both of you. It can't be helped."  
Hisa wondered how a piece of wood without a face could have a smug grin on it's face.  
"Oh yeah? Sounds to me like you're just a sore loser, demon. At least in your game with Nodoka you gave her a fair chance. But now your come with all your tiles just against us two? How are we supposed to have an even match when we can't even use our whole board? Isn't it a little boring for you to just slice us up?"  
"Oh but you _do_ have the chance to use your whole board! Do you know how I can use all these tiles? I infused them with the souls of the people I beat before you! So you just have to defeat someone and take their soul – but wait! You're fighting me now. Well, too bad for you!"  
Alea's voice was getting more energetic now, ecstatic even. Hisa sensed an imminent attack.  
_I can't get out of here myself, and Nodoka is too far away to help me ... but the thing she said ... that she used souls to fuel the tiles. Maybe we don't have to take them to use them. Maybe we can just borrow them!  
_Hisa focused her spirit. A clear image formed in her mind: Mako, smiling, laughing. A second image formed in her mind: Mako, running, fighting. This one was blurry, and Hisa struggled to keep it together. But the more Hisa focused, the more gained the second image in form, and the more did the first image fade.  
_Now, come!  
_Hisa pulled.

A crash. Tiles flying. No screaming, no pain. A gap had appeared in the circle surrounding Hisa, a gap filled with a bishop.  
_Could it be ...? Did it work?  
_For a while, nothing moved. Tiled of both colours were waiting in anticipation of the newcomer's next move.  
_She isn't doing anything ... is it because I have her soul on remote and it's not actually her? Then, if I wanted her to attack ...  
_Another crash. The bishop flung itself forward into the enemy lines, leaving dust were pawns once stood. But now the spell was broken, and the counterattack began. The smallfry of tiles had been swept away, and Alea lost no time deploying her real threats.  
A pair of bishop and knight came first, mirroring the girls' advances, and forced Hisa to retreat. Alea pressed her advantage further and followed up with a tower. Although a slower piece, Hisa couldn't help but see the similarities to a steamroller and tried not to imagine being cought under it.  
_I wish I could use more pieces, but it takes a lot of energy just to keep up this one bishop ... I need to figure out how to win this, and fast! Just eliminating her pieces one by one will do us no good; I am bound to get into a losing position that way. The best thing to do would be to target Alea directly! But when she talked to me ... it didn't seem like she was in any of the tiles.  
_Hisa glanced up.  
_Her body is sitting motionless in it's chair. That must mean that she is also in one of the pieces! My best guess is that she is the king piece, just like Nodoka. I'm gonna bet everything on this. One hell wait to end this 'game'!_


	6. Chapter 6

**_Matovinsky Gambit (3)_**

Hisa dashed forward. The bishop that had been trailing her picked up her pace, accelerated, slowly gained ground on the captain. Hisa, being confined to zig-zagging over the board, knew she was fighting a losing battle trying to outrace her opponent, but still she kept going. She reached the white tiles that stood at the end of the field. She had not slowed down. She was going to crash. She smiled.  
Hisa jumped. She turned in midair, landing with her feet on a pawn, but not crashing. Instead, she pushed herself forward, catching the bishop by surprise. The one had prepared for an attack and missed no time throwing a punch, but the split second it had hesitaded gave Hisa all the edge she needed. She landed. Behind her, the bishop fell to the ground, split in half.  
_Alright... This one was just to test my luck. Looks like I've still got it, even under these circumstances. I am ready for the real fight!  
_Hisa took a moment to orientate herself. Mako's bishop had started to fight autonomously, tearing through the enemy tiles that were all headed for Hisa and made an easy target from behind. Behind her, Nodoka slowly made her way towards the enemy lines. Even without a face, Hisa could feel the determination behind her friend's actions.  
_Looks like I won't have to worry about her. Let's focus on helping Mako out!  
_Hisa made her way towards her friend. She arrived just in time to find herself surrounded.  
_I can see the king piece not far behind the other pieces. If I make it out of here, she's in my reach!  
_Mako and Hisa stood back to back, neither them nor their enemies making a move. A metaphorical tumbleweed rolled through the scene as either side waited for the other one to make the first move. Hisa's eyes were fixed on her opponents, unblinking, her face glistening with sweat under the western sun. She pulled her revolver.  
Hisa jumped over the enemy barricade. No time for smallfry, eyes straight on the target, she hardly noticed that her move was too short. Her feet graced the second black bishop. She tumbled in midair, laid back a little to regain her stability, to pull the bishop with her, and to crush it underneath her. Now the king lay in front of her like on a silver tablet. Behind her, Mako had used the confusion after Hisa's escape to come after her and now flanked her.  
"Now! Hyaaaargh!"  
Hisa knew the king piece was slow. She came at it in full charge. There was no way for it to match the captain's speed. Yet, as Hisa was about to deal the final blow, it dodged to the side. Hisa's fists rammed into the board, deep, deep. She couldn't pull them out. Hisa was stuck. She looked to the side.  
"Mako, no! Don't attack! Alea is not in the king piece! She's in the queen piece, just behind the king! She plans to ambush you!"  
Hisa desperately tried to free herself, lest she watch her friend charge into her certain defeat. She only caught a slight grin of Mako's, as if to say, "I know what I'm doing. There's no way I can lose here."  
Hisa turned her eyes away.

"Now what do we have here..."  
Alea's voice was soft. Hisa looked up. Above her stood the black queen, grinning, menacing.  
"Your little fight ends here." Alea let out a hideous laugh as she prepared for her attack.  
"Not so fast!"  
A strike. A fall. Alea hit the board. The sound of cracking wood filled the silence as her body began to crumble from the impact.  
"Wh-what ... how ..." The demon grasped for words as her attacker stepped forward. It was the white queen piece.  
"But that piece was lost in the game! How can it be back again?!" Hisa was as surprised as her opponent.  
_Is this just my luck? Is this how my hell wait was supposed to end?  
_"You seem to forget one of the basic rules of chess." It was Nodoka who came slowly towards the scene. "When one of your pawns reaches the opposite end of the board, you can exchange it for another piece!"  
"So... that is..." Alea's voice was filled with anger.  
"Yes! Just as Hisa, I channeled the soul of Saki into a pawn, and while you were distracted by your fight with Mako and the captain, I exchanged it for the queen! This is how I managed to beat you! Now, release us from your curse!"  
"Aaaaaaaaaargh!"

Alea screamed. Blinding light came out of the cracks on her body, opened new cracks, until her whole body was shining bright. The other chess pieces started glowing as well, until the whole room was filled with light. The girls closed their eyes.

Hisa opened her eyes. She held her hand up before her face, her own hand, made of flesh and blood. She let out a small sigh. In front of her, Nodoka was awakening in her seat at the table. On the other side of the table, Alea's body lay motionless, but there were scorched marks on her chair, and smoke was coming from her body. Her eyes were open, a milky and expressionless gaze, devoid of thought or emotion.

**The Demon of the 8 Man: Retired!**

Nodoka rose from her chair.  
"Are you hurt?" Hisa sounded concerned. She inquired after her teammates health even though it had been her who fought at the front lines just a moment ago.  
Nodoka shook her head.  
"I am fine. But honestly, what is going on? This just now was too real to just be a dream. When I used Saki to move the chess piece... it felt as if she was right by my side... no, as if she were embracing me! I could feel her life energy flowing through me!"  
Hisa went up to Nodoka, put her hand on her friend's shoulder.  
"Whatever is going on, once we find the others, we're going to make it stop. Let's just get out of here for now, alright?"  
Nodoka stopped shaking at the sight of Hisa's smile. She took a deep breath, straightened her back.  
"Okay."  
They went to the door.  
_I'm saying these encouraging words, but really I'm the one who could need some right now, _thought Hisa. _I'm the captain. I have to be strong for my friends. I'm the one who should lead them out of here, but I have no idea what to do.  
_Nodoka turned.  
"Are you not coming, captain?"  
Hisa snapped out of her thoughts. She blinked, looked at the door, confused maybe, afraid possibly. She took a step.  
"Yeah, I'm coming."

The door opened.  
_Another enemy? Please not again, _thought Nodoka.  
The wood creaked, and through the small gap a face peeked. The face moved very slowly, weary. An eye appeared. But as soon as the eye got a glimpse of who was in the room, a whole person came from behind the door.  
"Saki!" Nodoka instinctively took a step forward at the sight of her friend.  
"Nodoka! Are you alright? I was very worried about you!"  
"Never mind me, but are you okay? There were some pretty crazy things going on here."  
"Yes... I know." Saki shuddered at the memory of losing Yuuki. "Listen to me. Do you remember Pro Fujita talking about what she called 'demons'? She wasn't lying! This is the demon world!"  
Nodoka sighed.  
"I guess this really has to be it, then." She looked Saki directly into the eyes. "Fine. How are we going to get out of here?"  
There it was. The elephant in the room. Saki had feared this moment would come, and it came sooner than she liked.  
"I – I don't actually know." Saki looked down on her feet, her face bright red. "All I know is that this was caused by the demon that's haunting my sister, and that we have to defeat it."  
Nodoka reached out for her friend. Her hand caressed Saki's face, lifted it so as to look at it. Nodoka took Saki's hand.  
"If you don't know, we're going to find out. Together."  
Saki's face lightened up. She took her hand out of Nodoka's grasp, instead intertwining pinkie fingers.  
"Promise?"  
"Promise."


	7. Chapter 7

**Nodoka Haramura just wants a Nice and Quiet Life**

"We've been walking down this hallway for a pretty long time now."  
Nodoka was annoyed. She had come all the way to the nationals, played her way into the finals, only to have her work stripped away by some 'demons'? And on top of that, now she had to fix this problem herself, cleaning up after other people's mess. Also, she was hungry. That one she didn't want to admit.  
"It's just a little longer, I'm sure. Look, I can see a door already!"  
Despite her cheerful attitude, Hisa herself started walking a bit easier with the goal in sight. After the demon encounter, the three of them had found the tournament hall to be completely redesigned. They had to resign to aimless wandering as none of them knew the way. When Hisa squinted her eyes a little, she could catch a glimpse of sunlight shining from behind the door. The prospect of fresh air did wonders to her motivation.  
_I wonder where that door will lead. I have to prepare myself for more demons.  
_Saki walked behind her two friends, hands between her thighs and her head low. She had thought about the significance of this quest they were just starting, and the idea of shouldering a thing of such magnitude frightened her. She'd rather trail behind, but feared to disappoint her friends, running away from her responsibility. For responsible she did feel. It was her sister, after all.  
Nodoka looked over her shoulder and gave Saki a small smile. 'Don't worry, I'm with you,' it said, and Saki appreciated the message. But her doubts were too large to be washed away so easily.  
They stepped through the door.

Lush grasslands satiated their eyes. Behind them, on the horizon, snowy mountains stood proud. A soft breeze brought a flower's scent to Hisa's nose, who stood confused. She turned around. The tournament center was not to be seen; in its stead stood a much older building. The girls did not try to enter.  
"It appears we are now standing on a mountain." Nodoka's voice was emotionless.  
"I am as surprised as you are, but this is a rather nice mountain, isn't it?" Hisa's voice was filled with excitement. Within not even an hour of their arrival at this bizarre place Saki called 'Shadow Realm' it had exceeded her wildest expectations. She took a deep breath. The cold, fresh air filled her lungs, and as she exhaled, she could feel the blood rushing through her veins. Her life suddenly got very interesting.  
"Are you as motivated as I am?" Hisa turned around to face her friends. "This must be the fresh mountain air. I really think we're gonna be able to do this! Let's go!"  
Nodoka strut past Hisa. She had a rather grim expression on her face, and her eyes were set strict forward.  
_Maybe I went a little overboard? _Hisa was not so sure of her motivation anymore.  
"Don't take this to heart", said Saki. "Nodoka is not one for these kinds of things, you know."  
Saki went past Hisa, a warm smile on her face. The one meanwhile was puzzled. She had been with both Saki and Nodoka an extensive amount of time while preparing for the tournament, yet it seemed she had missed an important point about their characters.  
_Am I overanalyzing this? I can't even be sure Nodoka is annoyed at me. This whole situation is pretty unsettling, and I can't really blame her for not being in the best of moods. Still, can't she at least enjoy what's in front of her?  
_Hisa turned abruptly. This train of thought lead nowhere. But the mountain path before her did lead somewhere, and she intended to find out.

"This is certainly an interesting development."  
The three girls stood before a crossroad. A cliff was right behind it, and the path had to adapt. The left path went down the cliff, winding down into territory yet undiscovered, hidden under milky clouds. The right path went up instead, followed along the cliff's edge, dissappeared behind the mountain's curves.  
"So, what now, captain?" Nodoka's voice was confrontational.  
_Is she still angry about my little speech? She really doesn't seem to adapt well. I wonder if she'd be at my throat already is Saki wasn't here.  
_"We appear to have two options. Either we all decide on one of the roads and take that one."  
"And the other one?"  
"We split up."  
Saki shuddered at the thought. They were a small group already, and a further decline in companions was the last thing she wanted to happen. She started to reach out to Hisa, voice her concern, when Nodoka's hand held her back and Nodoka's voice silenced her.  
"I think we should go with the second option. Only taking one of the paths will make it much more unlikely to meet our goal, since Teru could be at the end of either."  
Nodoka's gaze was fixed on Hisa as she talked, but the captain couldn't help but look at Saki, and what she saw were tears welling, being held back.  
"Saki and I will take one path, and you will take the other," Nodoka continued. "I think you should be well able to hold you own. You're the most _eager_ of us, anyway."  
"Fine, then." If Nodoka set the course for confrontation, Hisa was not going to let her down. "I will go alone. I think I will take the left path, since you probably couldn't be bothered to walk down a few steps with your attittu –"  
"Please stop!" Saki cried out in desperation. "Please, please stop..." Tears started streaming down her face. Her legs gave in, and Nodoka had to catch her. Nodoka's face was suddenly much softer now that her friend seemed in peril.  
"I – I can't stand how you're here fighting over breaking up the group. I thought we would be there for each other. I thought we were all in this together!"  
There was a silence. Metaphorical tumbleweeds rolled through the scene as the silence dragged on. Only Saki's faint sobbing reached Nodoka's ears as her face went through multiple expressions in swift succession. Fear was one of them, and guilt another. But the last one standing was anger.  
"Hisa! Don't you see what you've done?! Now you've made Saki cry!"  
Hisa was speechless. Somehow what she had started as an honest suggestion had taken a life of its own, fled from its mother's lap to be twisted and turned against her by Nodoka. Somehow Nodoka had managed to escalate the situation, yet Hisa took the blame.  
Hisa turned on her heels. Without a word, without turning back, she went for the path on the right. Dust blew behind her feet.  
"Hisa! Wait!" Saki's words trailed after the captain, but they didn't reach her. In her heart, she had already made her decision.

Saki stood up. Her tears had run dry, her eyes were red, and her voice was shaky.  
"So, this is how it is." She took a small step towards the left path. She took another one. As she walked towards the windy road down the cliff and away from Hisa, her composure changed, she walked more upright, eyes set straight on her goal.  
Nodoka watched. Watched as Saki's steps grew stiff, methodically one foot before the other. Nodoka knew this wasn't right, that it wasn't Saki who was supposed to be hurt, that it was her own doing, but pride clouded her thoughts. She went after Saki.  
"Saki, I –"  
"Please, don't." Saki looked at her friend. She smiled, but it was a crooked smile, a broken smile. Her eyes had not yet forgotten the taste of tears.  
Nodoka looked away. She couldn't stand seeing Saki like this, so instead she saw the ground on which she stood, waiting, waiting for Saki to take the lead. She didn't trust herself to make that decision anymore. But there were no advances, and with every waiting minute, her anger came back. Finally she went ahead herself. If Saki was so easily broken, then who to go on but herself?  
As she took her step, Saki grabbed her arm. Clinched to it.  
"Please don't go", she whispered. Nodoka noticed she had been crying again, was crying right then. Nodoka's shirt soaked up the tears like her ears soaked up Saki's pleas. She put her other arm around her friend. Suddenly, Hisa didn't seem so important anymore.  
"Don't worry. I'm here."  
Saki looked up at Nodoka's face. Hope glimmered behind the tears.  
"And I'm not going to leave you alone. I promise."


	8. Chapter 8

**Imperial Topaz is Unbreakable (1)**

An awkward silence stood between Nodoka and Saki. It had been enjoying its stay all the while since the girls split with Hisa, leaving an empty space too easily filled with negative emotions. The mood was brooding, and the environment did nothing to lighten it. After their descent down the cliffside stairs, and after they got their heads out of the clouds, the girls faced down a vast forest. The green of the leaves was in dark contrast to the mountainborn grass, and the path they walked on soon lost itself in the woods, leaving them to wander around aimlessly, always in the shadows of the treetops, always in the silence of themselves.  
Nodoka could not bear it any longer.  
"Saki!" she burst out. Immediately she covered her mouth with her hands, surprised by her own voice, and the tension within it. When she saw that Saki had winced and was now more cowering than standing beside her, Nodoka's heart tightened. To think that she had become a source of fright rather than relief bore hard on her.  
_This is not the moment to falter in despair. I have to make it up to her!  
_"Saki," she said once more, softer this time. She looked her friend in the eyes, and continued. "I– I know I'm not perfect, and I can live with that. And maybe my opinions are sometimes wrong, like, maybe Hisa was right. I mean I don't even really remember what we argued about, it feels like it was about nothing really, and–"  
"Nodoka." Saki's gaze was firm. "Nodoka, please. If you want to do this, then please do it straight up. Look, I like you, I really do, and I'm not even really angry at you anymore, I mean now it's too late to fix it, but please. Do this from the right direc... tion..."  
Saki's voice trailed off.  
"Nodoka, there's something there." Her voice, strong and collected before, now faltered.  
Nodoka turned around. "Are you sure? I can't see anything. There's just a bunch of trees." But Saki was convinced.  
"No... you need to look harder... I don't know why, but I can feel it. There's someone coming. They're almost here!"  
The trees stood menacingly. The wind rustled through the leaves. One lone figure stepped out from among the trees, from among the darkness. It was... Mihoko!

"M-Mihoko! What are you doi–"  
"We don't have time for this! Just follow me!" Mihoko cut Nodoka off mid-sentence and sprinted towards the trees.  
"Hey!" The girls were left with no choice but to follow. "Could you at least explain why you're in such a hurry?"  
Mihoko kept looking straight ahead when answering, so as to dodge the trees.  
"You've been here just as long as I've been, right? I'm sure you've encountered these people who call themselves 'demons' by now."  
Saki remembered her first contact. Somehow she didn't feel like running anymore. Where her stomach should be was only sickness.  
"I am currently being pursued by one of them. I don't know what she looks like, but I _do_ know that she can turn things into bombs by touching them, so we should tread very carefully."  
Nodoka was confused.  
"You say you know the enemy's ability, but you also imply you haven't seen her yet. Your story doesn't add up."  
"Oh, right. You might not know this yet, but the demons are not the only ones with special abilities. Something about coming to this dimension must have some kind of effect, because I and some other members of my team have also acquired a new power. Personally, I call these abilities 'stances'. It does take some effort to activate it, so I'm not going to show you right now."  
Saki was impressed, but didn't say so.  
_Mihoko is so awesome... When I had to play against a demon, I barely managed to win, and she is fighting even before the enemy even saw her ...  
_Saki, her thoughts drifting away from her body, tried to imagine what her power would be. But before she even got a good image of what it would look like, this proved to be a fatal mistake. Her eyes not focused on the ground, she overlooked a root sticking out of the ground. She tripped. She fell. She hit the ground so hard her higher brain functions deactivated.

When Saki awoke, the first thing she saw was Nodoka's face, only a few inches away. Sweat was dripping from it. Determination was radiating from it.  
"N-Nodoka ..."  
Nodoka's expression changed into one of concern at the sounds of Saki's voice.  
"Don't worry. You only fell and blacked out for a bit. It's all fine now."  
"I see... But why am I like this...?"  
Nodoka blushed. She averted her eyes, looking at the path ahead of her.  
"We are still being pursued by the demon. I– there was no other way than to carry you, so I– more importantly, how are you feeling? Are you badly hurt?"  
"I don't think so... Nothing hurts too badly, maybe a little headache, but apart from that I feel fine. I actually feel quite comfortable right now..."  
Lying in Nodoka's strong arms, Saki felt at peace for the first time since she started this journey. Her thoughts drifted away, and her mind blanked out. She huddled herself against Nodoka's warm, soft body, and closed her eyes.  
Nodoka herself grew more and more flustered. She didn't have time to concentrate on issues like this, but now that Saki had woken up Nodoka couldn't help but think about the intimacy they were sharing, when mere hours ago she had felt as if mountains stood between her and her friend. The fact that Saki intensified her snuggle attack the more she fell asleep didn't help matters either.  
"S-Saki! You can't fall asleep when we are under attack!" Nodoka's face was bright red. In all honesty she didn't mind and rather wanted Saki to keep sleeping, since Nodoka carried her she already saw herself in the heroic role. When she looked down at Saki's peaceful face, her heart skipped a beat, and her arms were not growing tired of the weight. But nonetheless she did not want to spoil Saki too much, and also felt the whole situation slipping out of her control.  
"Oh... I guess you are right, Nodoka. I'm sorry." Saki suddenly felt guilty for being such a burden upon Nodoka.  
"You can let me down, I think I can walk on my own now."  
"Really? B-but is that really alright? We can't allow ourselves to slow down ..."  
"This is quite alright, don't worry," said Mihoko. "Since you've been carrying Saki, we were forced to go slower anyway, so I adjusted our strategy. Look ahead. There's a small clearing over there. We are going to take on the demon there."  
_Upperclassmen really are reliable_, thought Saki, her eyes big with admiration.  
The group stopped. Nodoka lowered Saki towards the ground, but she jumped out of her arms, full of energy.  
_I am not going to let my friends down!_

The wind rustled through the leaves. The trees shook ever so slightly with the air's movements. The three girls stood back to back, ready for an attack from any side. Mihoko was completely calm. Her composure did not so much as suggest that she was only a veteran of a mere five hours. Her eyes were calm, and circled her designated area slow and steady. Nodoka on the other hand felt as if her whole body was going to cramp. Her muscles were tense, and her mind was like a loaded crossbow, ready to go off at any time. Finally, Saki was very shaky. Every once in a while she would lift her fists in a fighting pose, but would soon become too afraid of having to actually use them. Instead, when they just dangled down her side, they instinctively searched for Nodoka's fingers, brushing them ever so slightly, but not quite taking them.  
There! A shadow. Between the trees, a shadow. Gone as soon as it came.  
"Get ready. The demon is here."  
Mihoko took a few steps away from the other girls. She stretched her arms, took a few deep breaths, shook her legs.  
"It's time. I'm going to show you my ability now."  
Saki, who had only watched over her shoulder so far, too shy to abandon her duty as watchout to check in on Mihoko, now turned around. She could barely contain her excitement.  
"Well, let's start!"  
Light started to radiate from Mihoko's body. Her whole figure shone in bright blue and red colours. The light mingled with itself, creating fountains of colour, but finally focused itself in Mihoko's eyes, turned brighter still, until it was a pure white. Then, it stopped. When Saki dared to look at Mihoko again, her upperclassman had turned into an incarnation of herself; as if her eyes were leaking out, half her body shone in a bright blue, and the other half in a golden red. Her eyes themselves however were left colourless, now radiating light.  
"This is my stance, **[Behind Blue Eyes!]**"


End file.
